Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers

<b> Forum for elementary education ESL/EFL teachers </b>

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lek72
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2011 4:39 am

Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers

Post by lek72 » Tue May 22, 2012 4:30 pm

I have always wanted to become a school teacher, but I was not confident about my ability because English is not my first language. When I started taking classes to become an ESL teacher, I was afraid that I would not be "qualified" because English is my second language. I was raised up my America for about 20 years, and I believe that I'm pretty fluent in English. However, sometimes seeing job ads in the papers that ask for native English-speaking teachers sort of make me feel a little sad. But then I started to feel better when I found out that researches show that nonnative English-speaking teachers offer as many if not more inherent advantages. Those teachers have actually gone through the process of learning English possess distinct advantages over native speakers. Variety of English is actually okay.

eslwendy
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2011 1:48 am

Post by eslwendy » Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:38 pm

I am glad you overcame your reservations and are pursuing your dream of becoming a school teacher. I am pleased that research is starting to support the advantages of ESL teachers that are not native speakers. I feel you better understand the difficulties involved. If you happen to be teaching a population of students that share your native language, you can use the two-way immersion approach which has shown some positive results. (I am a native English speaker who is not fluent in another language, and wish I could be part of such a class). Most administrators I know are forward thinking. It makes sense when you think about it. Afterall, most of the Spanish teachers that I know that teach in American schools are not native Spanish speakers, and they are very effective teachers.

longshikong
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:49 am

Post by longshikong » Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:18 am

eslwendy wrote:I am glad you overcame your reservations and are pursuing your dream of becoming a school teacher. I am pleased that research is starting to support the advantages of ESL teachers that are not native speakers. I feel you better understand the difficulties involved. If you happen to be teaching a population of students that share your native language, you can use the two-way immersion approach which has shown some positive results. (I am a native English speaker who is not fluent in another language, and wish I could be part of such a class). Most administrators I know are forward thinking. It makes sense when you think about it. Afterall, most of the Spanish teachers that I know that teach in American schools are not native Spanish speakers, and they are very effective teachers.
I met a former Chinese high school physics teacher in Canada who I encouraged to pursue her dream of teaching high school in Canada. At the time she was working in a grocery and missed her professional life and colleagues. Canada, at the time, was trying to revamp it's discriminatory system that wouldn't recognize foreign professional credentials nor experience. Within a year, she and other immigrants fast-tracked into teaching careers.

As an immigrant teaching in a Canadian high school, she models what's possible for others. Another non-native immigrant friend of mine is the head of the English dept. in a Toronto high school.

One of the main reasons I've resigned from the private school I'm teaching at here in China is how it sidelines Chinese co-teachers. They're told to sit at the back of the back of the room rather than up front with me team teaching and modelling the language among other things.

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